Authors

Abstract

While scholars have widely relied on business-oriented criteria (e.g. profitability) to measure entrepreneur success, recent studies show that the primary motivations of many entrepreneurs are rather driven by person-oriented factors (e.g. personal satisfaction). In order to promote valuable entrepreneurial activities that lead to innovation and economic growth, policy makers must understand how entrepreneurs perceive their own success. Prior research shows that individual- level factors (e.g. age, gender, education, personality traits) correlate with the preference for certain success criteria. In this study, we introduce emotional intelligence (EI), i.e. the ability to monitor one’s own and other’s feeling and emotions, to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and actions (Salovey & Mayer, 1990, p.189), as an additional factor that may influence how entrepreneurs perceive their own success.